Vending-machine.



' J. A. BIRSFIBLD.

VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 1, 1910.

L67, 1 1L 1 Patented July 8, 1913.

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ma Y 5 (fig AzZZyw I y i A tarvwya J. A. BIRSFIELD. VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 1, 1910.

'LG'LQI 1 Patented July 8, 1913.

' I 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Inventor J. A. BIRSFIELD. VENDING MACHINE. APPLIQATION FILED JULY 1,1910.

1,@@7,21 1 m Patented July 8, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

J. A. BIRSFIELD.

VENDING MACHINE. v APPLICATION FILED JULY 1,1910. LM'LM 1. Patented July 8, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

- Witnesses JULES A. BIRSFIELD, OF LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN.

VENDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented July s, 1913.

Original application filed September 1, 1909, Serial No. 515,566. Divided and this application filed July 1,

i 1910. Serial No. 569,894.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, Jones A. BIRSFIELD, acitizen of the United States, residing at La Crosse, in the county of La Crosse and State of lVisconsin, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in VendingMachines, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to vending machines and has particular reference to-a form of vending machine which is adapted to deliver articles preferably contained in capsules on the deposition of a coin in the machine.

This is a divisional application of a copending application, Serial No. 515,566, filed September 1, 1909 and is directed particularly to the vending or dispensing mechanism characterizing my machine.

Heretofore the use of vending machines has been considerably limited by reason of the range of articles which are adapted to be sold in connection with such machines. The sale of postage stamps, powders, and the like has not been practicable, inasmuch as no method has been employed by which these articles could readily be put up in shape to be packed in vending machines, and subsequently delivered when a coin was deposited.

According to the improved system which I employ the articles to be sold are prefer ably put in transparent capsules, these capsules being suitably packed end to end in the machine. On account of their lightness capsules cannot be successfully handled un less they are thus packed end to end .in a suitable uiding passage. By my improved system of packing the capsules, I experience no ditficult in delivering the requislte number from t e machine. The capsules are retained in their position, by means of a rotatable disk. When a coin is deposited in the machine, the disk is at first rotated through part of a space which separates the different columns of capsules, and the coin on traveling downward? strikes a trip which causesthe disk to move through the balance of the space, and thereby automatically delivers one capsule in which is contained the article to be vended. The operation is entirely automatic in that it is unnecessary to operate a lever after the coin is deposited. The depthroughout the several views.

empty. A further advantage of my machine.

resides in the fact that if a coin smaller than the proper one is deposited, the coin automatically drops into the receiving trough and does not operate the vending machine. On account of the glass casing of the machine allthe coins are in plainview and if a ten cent piece, for example, is deposited in place of the proper five-cent piece, the attention of the proper person can be called to the mistake and the ten cent 'piece readily recovered. As the coins are deposited, two of them constantly remain in sight through the proper openings in the front of the coin, passage, each coin moving down one space as the new coin is deposited and in this way if a slug or counterfeit coin is placed in the machine, it is'quickly detected. These and other advantages of my Vendingmachine will be more apparent by reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of the vending machine showing the operating parts, the coin trough and the delivery chute; Fig. 2 is an'elevation and partial vertical section through the operating mechanism of the machine. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 2'. Fig. 1 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevation of the coin passage. Fig. 7 is a plan view of a modified form of mechanism actuated by the coin for driving the vending or dispensing mechanism. Fig. 8 is a detail view of the operating parts shown in Fig. 7 moved to their alternate position. Fig. 9 is a side view of a. modified form of mechanism for delivering but one article at a time from one of the receptacles for the articles to be vended. Fig. 10 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 9.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts The base of the vending machine consists of a casing 1 having the annular portion 2 in which the coins collect as they come be vended, the delivery chute 4 leading di-' rectly from the chamber 3 tothe pocket 5 from which the articles may be moved by the purchaser after they are delivered from the chute 4. A glass tube or casing 6 engages the upper rim of the casing 1 and on its upper edge is rovided with the, metallic top 7, this top being provided with a lip 8 which projects downwardly outside of the upper edge of the glass casing 6.

Securely fastened to that portion of the casing 1 which encircles the chamber 3 is the base plate 9 of the operating mechanism of the vending machine. In the base plate 9 are openings 10 through which the articles to be vended are delivered as will be explained hereafter. Rigidly attached to the base plate 9 by means of screws 11 is the metallic block 12 which in its lower part is provided with the downwardly extending projections 13 in which the screws 11 are fastened. By means of this structure it will be evident that the chamber 14 is provided in the bottom part of the block 12, the object of which will be apparent hereafter. On the top of the block is provided a plate 15 in which are circular openings 16. Held between the upper plate 15 and the lower plate 9' is the circular glass casing 17 which partially incloses the block 12.

Extending vertically in the periphery of the block 12 is a series of grooves 18. As most clearly shown in Fig. 3, a space 19 exists between the periphery of the block 12 and the inside of the glass casing 17. On account of this space the circular character ofthe grooves 18 is interrupted and when the capsules 20 are inserted in the grooves 18 the may be readily seen through the glass caslngs 17 and 6.

On the top of the plate 15 are the supports 21 to which is attached the horizontal frame work 22 as most clearly shown in Fig. 3. This framework consists of a number of projecting arms 23 which are attached to the bars 21 by means of screws 24.

A rod 25 having a bearing on its lowerend in the plate 9 and on its upper end in the frame 22 extends through a suitable opening in the center of the'block 12. Bigidly attached to the rod 25 y means of the screw 45 is the ratchet .26.

Extending upwardly from the center of I theflframe 22 and rigidly connected with the same is the rod 27 which passes through the opening in the top 7. The end of the rod 27 is threaded and a nut 28 holds the top 7 firmly in engagement with the glass casing 6. The nut '28 is prevented from being removed from the rod 27 by means of padlock j 29 which engages in a hole 30 passing Inasmuch as the casing 1 is rigidly connected to the base plate 9, and this'base plate is in turn connected with the block 12 whichagain through the top 15, thesupporting rod 21 and the screws 24 is connect ed to the frame 22, it is evident that the parts of the vending machine cannot be separated until the nut 28 is removed from the rod 27. Tampering with the machine is thereby effectually prevented.

Rigidly attached to the lower part of the rod 25 is the circular disk 31 rotatable within the chamber l4 -as the rod 25 is rotated. In the disk 31 is provided a notch 32.

Adjustably mounted on the rod 25 is the arm 33, the end of which lies in the same vertical plane as the notch 32. The arm 33 is held in position by means of screw 34 and canbe adjusted on the rod 25.

When acolumn of capsules 20 is placed in suit-able position bet-ween one of the grooves- 18 and the glass casing 17, the disk 31, as most clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2 engages the bottom of the lowermost capsule and prevents the same from dropping through one of the openings 10 into the chamber 3 and being delivered through the chute 4 into the pocket 5. As the disk 31 is rotated it is evident that when the notch 32 registers with one of the openings 10 in the base lowed to drop through the hole 10 and will be delivered into the chamber 3. At the same time, however, the arm 33 engages the bottom of the capsule next above the one which has just been delivered and in this way the whole column of capsules is prevented from dropping through the hole 10 and but a single one is delivered. As the various columns of capsules fall equally on account of taking a single one from each column, it can be readily seen from any side of the machine when the capsules are exhausted. A- rod 35 has a bearingson its upper end in the frame 22 and on its lower end in the base plate 9. To this is rigidly attached the trip 36 and the stops 37, 38 and 39. On the upper end of the rod 35 is rigidly attached the cross-piece 40.

Pivotally attached to the frame 22 by means of the pivots 41 and 42 are levers 43 and 44 which are normally held against the stops 45 and 46 by means of the spring 47 by which the two levers are connected. Pivot-ally attached to the end of the lever 43 is the pawl 46 engaging the ratchet 26, and pivotally attached to the end of the lever 44 is the pawl 47' also adapted to engage the ratchet 26.

The coin passage 48 is formed by means portion the plate 50 is bent at an oblique angle and forms the upper portion 51 'in which is the opening 52, the object of which.

.wider than the plate 50 and the plate 50 is bent on its edges so that the side walls are formed for the coin passage 48.

The frame 22, as shown in Figs. 1-, 2 and 3, extends to the right and has an opening near its edge through which the upper parts of the plates 49 and 50 pass, the edges of the coin passage at this point being formed by means of the edges of this opening in the plate 22. As best shown in Fig. 3, the plates 49 and 50 just below the plate 22 extend in a lateral direction to a slight distance.

When in their normal position the outer ends of the levers 43 and 44 occupy positions in the slot 53 so that when the coin is inserted in this slot, the ends of the levers are forced apart against the pressure of the spring 47. On the lower end of the rod 35 a spring 54 is fastened, the other end of the spring being attached to the downward extension 13 of the block 12 or to some other suitable portion of the framework ofthe machine. The tendency of the spring 54 is to rotate the rod 35 so that when the levers 43 and 44 are forced apart,v

the cross piece 40 moves into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, thereby holding the levers 43 and 44 apart. At the same time the trip 36 passes through the opening in the plate 49 and extends into the coin passage 48. The stop 38 is also similarly brought into the coin passage 48, while the stops 37 and 39 are simultaneously moved out ofthis passage. The construction of the trip 36 and the stops just mentioned is most clearly shown in Fig. 5. The object of this construction will be described hereafter.

The opening 52 consists of an upper portion 60 which is somewhat smaller than the I downwardly until striking the pro ecti-ons 62, the lower part of the coin meanwhile passing downwardly through the upper portion 60 of the opening 52. If the coin is of the proper size to be used in connection with the particular vending machine, the coin is then swung over inwardly and passes downward into the coin passage 48. If, however, the coin is smaller than the proper size, it will pass through the upper portion 7 60 of the opening 52 and drop directly into the coin trough 2.

One of the principal features of my invention is the use of the capsules 20 which are made of transparent material, as, for

example, gelatin, and are formed in two portions 20 and' 20, as shown in Fig. 1, the portion 20 being adapted to tightly fit within the portion 20 Any suitable object, as for example a postage stamp 20 mzi-y be readily contained within the capsu e.

The operation of my improved vending machine may now be readily understood. The parts being in their normal positions, as shown in the drawings, and the top 7 removed, all of the grooves 18 are filled with capsules 20. The top 7 is then replaced, the nut 28 screwed on and the pad lock 25) suitably fastened. A coin being placed in the slot 53, the outer arms of the levers 43 and 44 are forced apart thereby bringing the inner arms of these levers into the positions shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. The ratchet 26 is moved a distance equal to one-half the distance between the teeth of the ratchet by means of the pawl 46, and inasmuch as the pawl 47 is moved by the lever 44 an equal distance, the pawl 47' is brought into engagement with the next toot-h of the ratchet 26. By the action of spring 54 operating through rod 35 the cross piece 40 is brought into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 and the outer arms of the levers 43 and 44 are held separated. The coin continues to travel down through passage 48 until it strikes the trip 36 which, as explained above, has meanwhile been brought into the passage 48. lVhen the coin strikes the trip 36, the trip is moved out of the passage 48 and the cross piece 40' is returned to its normal position. The spring 47 now becomes effective and the outer arms of the levers 43 and 44- are brought together. It is evident that inasmuch as the number of teet-hof the ratchet 26 corresponds to the number of grooves 18 in the machine. the notch 32 in the disk 31 will have been moved half way from one opening 10 to another when the outer arms of the levers 43 and 44 are forced apart. When by means of the return of the trip 36 to its normal position, the outer arms of the levers 43 and 44 are returned to their normal positions. the pawl 47 will rotate the ratchet 26 a distance equivalent to another half space between the openings 10 in the base plate 5). The notch will thus be brought to register with the next opening-10 and the capsule 20 will be allowed to drop through this opening into the chamber. 3 and thence through the chute 4 to the delivery pocket 5. In the meantime the arm 33 retains the capsule 20 next above the one which was delivered. Asexplained above, the arm 33 is adjustable on the rod 25 so that this arm should be adjusted in proper position according to the length of the capsules which are being'used. The capsules of all of the other grooves 18 are held in position by means of the disk 31 which, as explained above, engages the bottoms of these capsules. When the trip 36, as explained above is forced back into its normal position by the passage of the coin, the stop 37 is moved into the passage 4:8 and the coin is thereby held inposition just back of' the opening 63 in front of the plate 50. lVhen the next coin is deposited in the slot 53 and the outer arms of the levers 43 and ll are forced apart, the rod 35, as explained above, is again partiallyrotated and the stop 37 is moved out of the passage 48 and the stop 38 is moved into it. The coin above described is thereby allowed to pass from a position behind the opening 63 to a similar position behind the opening 64 and when the new coin strikes the trip 36, the first coin again passes downwardly and is held by the stop 39. It is evident that normally a coin will remain behind opening 63 only a few moments so that if a coin is found behind this opening,- it shows that some one has been tampering with the machine, so that levers as and 44 are forced apart and the trip 36 not actuated. Such a condition might result on the deposition of an improper coin, the-position of the preceding coin thus acting as a telltale. Any desired number of stops and openings may be provided in the machine, the object of these openings being to immediately render apparent the deposition of a slug or counter-' feit coin. lVhen the coins have passed through the full extent of the passage 48 after being retained by stops, the coin is finally deposited in the coin trough 2 where it is in plain sight. An opening 65 is providcd near the trip 36 so that if the machine fails to operate properly, it may immediately be determined whether a coin has caught near the trip. hen all of the capsules have been delivered the top 7 is again removed and the outer casing 6 lifted from the outer rim of the casing 1.' The coins can then readily be removed from the coin trough 2. he vending machine is then again charged with capsules and the operation continued as described.

In the modified form of apparatus, shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the ratchet wheel 26 is re placed by a wheel 66 having blunt pointed -teeth adapted to be alternately engaged by the pins 67 and 68 carried by the reciprocating bar 69 when such bar is moved back and forth upon the rod 25 by the actuating mechanism. A slot 70 is formed through the bar 69 near-its left hand end to permit a reciprocating motion of such bar and this slot is so disposed relatively to the pins 67 and 68 that when the bar is reciprocated 70 the pins serve to advance the wheel 66 and parts carried thereby one step for each complete reciprocation. The bar 69 has pivoted to its right hand end at 71 and 72 links 73 and 74, the other ends of which 7 are pivotally connected with the levers 75 and 76. The other ends of the levers 75 and 76 are pivoted to the top plate 15 of the machine and their right hand ends are extended through the plates 49 and 50 to support rollers 77 and 78 between such plates at such a distance apart that a proper coin,

as a five-cent nickel, cannot be inserted between the plates 49 and 50 without separating such rollers and therefore the levers 75 and 76 connected therewith. Suitable springs 79 and 80 maintain the springs 7 5 and 76 normally in the position indicated in Fig. 7. As a result of the construction described, when the rollers 77 and 78 are separated by the insertion of a proper coin, the links 73 and 74 are moved to the right thus moving the bar 69 to the right to the position indicated in Fig. 8 in which position it is temporarily retained by the fiattened upper end of the rod under the action of the comparatively light spring 81. The right hand end of the bar 69 is slotted so that when it occupies the position indicated in Fig. 7 it engages the flattened sides of the rod 35 to retain it in the position indicated in Fig. 7 against the action of the spring 81, and when the bar 69 is moved to the position indicated in Fig. 8 the rod 35 is in a released position in a clearance formed at the left hand end of the slot 82 which normally retains the rod 35 in the position referred to. As a result of the construction described, when the rod 35 is caused to occupy the position indicated in Fig. 8, the bar 69 is located in its right hand position against the action of the springs 79 and 80 and this condition continues until the coin deposited in the coin chute engages the trip pin 36 which moves 1 5 the rod 35 to the position indicated in Fig.

7 thus permitting the springs 79 and 80 to move the bar 69 and parts carried thereby to the position indicated in' Fig. 7.

As shown in Figs. 9 and lQ, the disk 31 1 secured to the lower end of the rod 25 is stamped from a single piece of metal, the part removed fromthe portion allowing delivery of the capsule from one of the vending tubes being folded beneath the body" portion of the disk 31 to form an additional support for such disk as indicated at 31.

In this modification the arm 33 is replaced by a flat spring member '83 riveted to the disk 31 in such a. position that it engages 3 the articles-in any one of the vending tubes at. the same time that the delivery opening in the disk 31 permits the delivery of the articles from such tube. The member.83 may readily be bent 'to secure exactly the adjustment that is necessary.

While I have referred throughout this specification to coins as the means by which the mechanism is actuated, I do not wish to be understood as restricting the use of the machine to money of any particular coinage, since the machine obviously may be used with circular metallic disks however they may be marked as long as the disks are of a proper size to actuate the mechanism.

Instead of using the exact construction which I have described, a series of small glass tubes could be used which would act as passages for the capsules or metal tubes provided with openings therein through which the capsules could readily be seen mi ht easily be used.

Vhat I claim is:

1. In a vending machine, the combination of a plurality of receptacles for containing articles to be vended, said receptacles having delivery openings in their bottoms, common means for restricting the openings of said receptacles to prevent the escapeof said ar ticles therefrom, said restricting means having an opening adapted to register with the opening in the bottom of each of said receptacles thereby allowing the delivery of an opening in the bottom of said passage, and

article to be vended, means for'successively bringing said openings in such restricting means in register with the openings in the bottoms of said receptacle, and means carried rigidly with said restricting means for retaining in the receptacle all of the articles to be veiided except apredetermined number which are allowed to escape when the.

opening in said restricting means is brought in register with the opening i the bottom of any of said receptacles.

2. In a vending machine, a plurality of vertical passages, each passage adapted to contain a column of articles to be vended, common means for restricting the openings in the bottoms of such passages thereby retaining said articles within said passages, said restricting means having an opening I adapted to register with the openings in the bottoms of said passages, means carried rigidly with said first-nanied restricting means for restricting e ach passage at a predetermined height when the opening of said lower restricting means registers with the means for successively bringing the openings in said lower restricting means in register with the openings in the bottoms of said passages, therebydelivering a predetermined number of articles from each passage and retaining the balance of said articles in said passage.

tical plane as the opening in said disk, said arm adapted to restrict at a predetermined height tlieipassage with which the opening 6 in said disk registers and means for rotating said disk and said arm from one to a secondof said passages thereby delivering apredetermined number of articles from said second passage.

4. In a vending machine, a plurality of vertical passages, each passage adapted to containa column of articles to be vended, a rotatable disk for restricting IhGbOttOIHS of said passages thereby preventing the escape of said articles therefrom, said disk having an opening adapted to remove the restriction from the bottom of one of said passages, a rotatable arm in the same vertical plane as the opening in said disk, said arm adapted to restrict at a predetermined height the passagewitli which the opening vertical passages, each passage adapted to contain a column of articles to be vended, a rotatable disk for restricting the bottom of said passages thereby preventing the escape of said articles therefrom, said disk having an opening adapted to remove the restriction from the bottom of one of said passages, a rotatable arm in the same vertical plane as the opening in said disk, said arm adapted to restrict at a predetermined heightthe passage with which the opening in said disk registers, a shaft on which said disk and said arm are mounted, a ratchet on said shaft, an escapement adapted to rotate said ratchet, said shaft, said arm and said disk a distance sufiicient to move the opening in said disk part way from one to a second passage for containing articles to be vended when said escapement is moved in a one direction and to rotate said ratchet and its associated parts to move the opening in said disk into register with said second passage on movement of said escapement in the opposite direction, means for moving said escapement in one direction, means for retaining said escapement in the position to which it is moved, and means for moving said escapement in the opposite direction loosely supported by the casing, and alock for positively holding the receptacles in place.

8.- In a vending machine, the combination of-a base, a container for the goods loosely supported by the base, a cover for the container, and a lockfor positively holding the parts in proper place.

9. A vending machine comprising a capsule receptacle support, a plurality of tubular capsule receptacles disposed in circular arrangement carried by said support, a disk disposed at the lower end of said receptacle to prevent the escape of capsules from all of the receptacles but one, and a member connected with said disk adapted to limit the number of capsules passing from said unrestricted receptacle.

10. Avending machine, comprising a plurality of capsule receptacles disposed in circular arrangement, a rotatable disk adapted to restrict the lower ends of all of the receptacles but one, and an auxiliary restricting member connected with said disk and located at a predetermined distance above said disk to limit the number of capsules passing from said unrestricted receptacle.

11.- A vending machine, comprising a plurality of capsule receptacles disposed in circular arrangement, a disk adapted to restrict the lower ends of all of the receptacles but one, a shaft supporting the disk, and auxiliary restricting means secured to said shaft at a point above said disk, said auxiliary restrictingmeans being adapted to limit the number ofcapsules passing from said unrestricted receptacle.

l2. Avending machine, comprising a plu rality of capsule receptacles disposed in substantially circular arrangement, a disk adapted to restrict the lower ends ofall of the receptacles but one, and an auxiliary restricting device connected to the disk and located at a diflerent level from the disk for restricting the other receptacle.

. 13. In a vending machine, the combination of a plurality of stationary vertical tubular receptacles disposed in substantially circular arrangement, a first rotary device located near the bottom of the receptacles to restrict all of said receptacles but one, a second restricting device for restricting the remaining one of said receptacles at a different level, and mechanism for rotating the restricting devices.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 16th day of June, A. D., 1910.

JULES A. BIRSFIELD. Witnesses:

C. L. BALDWIN, MARIE A. SIMMERLING. 

